Clamp-applying tool



April 7, 1959 BETZ CLAMP-APPLYING TOOL Filed April 9, 1956 INVENTOR. I Y Henry B efz.

ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 2,880,634 CLAMP-APPLYING TOOL Henry Belz, near Berthoud, Colo. Application April 9, 1956, Serial No. 577,079 1 Claim. (Cl. 81-93) This invention relates to hand tools employable to :apply and to tension wire loop clamps of a type extensively utilized for operatively connecting flexible tubing, 7

hose, and the like, with flow lines, nipples, couplings, and analogous elements of fluid flow systems, and has as an object to provide a novel and improved such tool of pronounced practicality and facility of manipulation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved construction and operative combination of elements constituting a hand tool for the efficient application of wire loop clamps with speed and convenience.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved hand tool of pliers type adapted for the application and tensioning of wire loop clamps in addition to other functions conventionally characteristic of such tools.

A further object of the invention is to provide novel and improved means for applying the action characteristic wire.

A further object of the invention is to provide a clampapplying hand tool that is simple and inexpensive of production in any expedient range of sizes, that is susceptible of adaptation to diverse other uses, that is conformable and convenient of manipulation, durable and long-lived in use, and positive and eflicient in attainment of the ends for which designed. With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and operative combination of elements as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a typical embodiment of the invention as initially associated with and to tighten a wire loop clamp, the disposition of the tool at con- ;clusion of the tightening operation being represented by broken lines.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the joint, clamp, and tool according to Figure 1 as associated at the completion of ,the' clamp-tensioning operation.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary, detail section, on a relatively enlarged scale, through eccentric grip means characterizing the tool as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary, detail elevation of a jaw element tip significantly featuring the improved tool.

Connection of flexible elements, such as lengths of hose and tubing, in and to complete fluid flow systems is extensively accomplished through circumferential tensioning and securing of a band, or the equivalent, exteriorly about a portion, usually an end, of the flexible element telescoped over the end of a rigid element included in the system, whereby to firmly clamp and compress an annular zone of the flexible element about and in sealing engage- Patented Apr. 7, 1959 ment against the subjacent zone of the rigid element. Clamps adapted for use as above described are available in a wide diversity of constructions and particularity of detail, and one form of such a clamp especially popular because of its simplicity, economy, availability, and high adaptability consists merely of an appropriate length of wire of suitable size and strength bent at its midlength to form an angular bight through which the free ends of the wire are drawn and clinched to establish spacedly parallel loops of the wire under tension about the joint to be secured. Adequate tensioning and secure locking of the wire loop clamps just described are difficult without appropriate tools, and it is to the provision of a simple, practical, and novel tool efliciently manipulable for the application of such wire loop clamps with convenience and facility that the instant invention is directed.

Typical of the environment wherein the improved tool is designed to function, a rigid flow line element 10 is shown in telescopic engagement within one end of a flexible element 11 to establish a conventional slip joint susceptible of completion by means of a clamp tensioned exteriorly about a zone of the element 11 overlying the element 10, and a wire loop clamp of the common type adapted for application by the improved tool is represented in operative association with the joint established by the elements 10 and 11 as a length of wire bent at its midlength to form an angular bight closed by a short section 12 of the wire from the opposite ends whereof the half lengths 13 of the wire extend perpendicularly in the same direction and in spaced, parallel relation as loops circumferentially of the element 11 closing about the latter when the free ends 14 of the half lengths 13 are slidably engaged under the wire section 12 and through the bight closed thereby. As is well understood, the wire loop clamp organized as illustrated and above described is tightened about the element 11 to accomplish its intended function through the application of tension to both free ends 14 of the wire half lengths while the section 12 is held against the action of the forces thus applied, thus to constrict the loops circumferentially of the element, and the tightened clamp is secured and locked by swinging of said free ends 14 about the section 12 and into closely-hooked engagement therewith such as effectively resists expansion of the tensioned loops. All of the foregoing is but representative of conventional practice and is illustrated and described only to establish the locus and background of the novel tool operable to facilitate tensioning and locking of the typical wire loop clamps disclosed.

In a construction adapted for natural, one-hand manipulation, the improved tool is of a usual pliers type characterized by complementary handles 15 and 16 hingedly interconnected for articulation on a common axis 17 and terminating beyond said axis in integral jaws 18 and 19, respectively, coactable in a customary manner in reaction to separation and rapprochement of the handles. Adjacently-opposed faces of the jaws 18 and 19 may be conformed and worked in any manner expediently adapting them for selected specific uses within the capacity of conventional pliers, but when the tool is conditioned for the application of wire loop clamps, as hereinafter described, it is of practical advantage to form the coacting faces of the jaws as cutting edges 20 cooperable when the handles 15 and 16 are closed together to sever a Wire, or the like, engaged therebetween.

Conditioning the pliers type tool for its use in the application of wire loop clamps, one of the jaws 18 or 19, in the illustrated embodiment the jaw 19, is formed with an integral, longitudinal, nose extension 19' disposed to project away from the hinge axis 17 beyond the free end of the complementary jaw when the jaws are closed together. The nose extension 19' is at its free end of a thickness parallel to the axis 17 such as to engage with the wire section 12 between the wire half lengths 13 entered through the bight closed by said section and is formed with a notch 21 intersecting its free end parallel to said axis and opening outwardly of the nose away from the axis in a size to loosely and revolubly embrace the wire section 12. At the same side of the tool as the nose extension 19 and at the side of the hinge axis 117 remote therefrom, a yoke 22 fixed to or integral with the handle 15 outstands laterally of said handle as a mounting for means operable to grip the free ends 14 of the wire half lengths 13 when the notch 21 is engaged with the wire section 12. A pin 23 seated in and to span across the open, outer end of the yoke 22 revolubly mounts an eccentric cam 24 for rotation within said yoke in a spacing outwardly from the handle 15, and a second pin 25 detachably spanning the yoke between the pin 23 and handle 15 engages through a hole adjacent one end of a segmental block 26 to mount the latter in and for limited oscillation relative to the yoke with the arcuate margin of the block opposed to the adjacent margin of the cam 24 and the major length of the block extended from the yoke toward the jaw 19 in general parallel relation with the associated handle 15. The block 26 is expediently formed with a hole accommodative of the pin 25 adjacent each of its ends, whereby said block is conditioned for reversible, as well as replaceable, association with the yoke 22, and the convex margin of said block is roughened, or serrated, as at 27, for secure grip of a wire clamped thereagainst. An actuating finger 28 fixed to or integral with the cam 24 extends generally radially from the cam in such correlation with the eccentricity thereof as to register the cam margin closely adjacent and in its position of minimum spacing from the convex margin of the block 26 when said finger is rocked away from the jaw end of the tool to engagement of its free end with the handle 15 at the side of the yoke 22 remote from the axis 17, and to enlarge the spacing between said cam margin and block to its maximum when the finger is rocked to overlie the jaw end of the tool; the maximum spacing between the block and cam margin being such as to freely receive and slidably accommodate the free ends 14 of the wire from which the loop clamp is formed and the minimum such spacing being less than the diameter of the wire ends.

Constructed and organized as shown and described, the tool is practical and convenient of use for the tensioning and locking of wire loop clamps of the general type illustrated and above discussed. With the wire loop clamp loosely embracing the joint and the free ends 14 of the loop wire engaged under the wire section 12 through the bight established by the latter, the notch 21 of the nose extension 19 is engaged with said section as shown in full lines in Figure 1, the finger 28 is rocked to open 'a maximum spacing between the adjacent margins of the cam 24 and block 26, the wire free ends 14 are entered through said spacing, the handles 15 and 16 diverged to maximum separation, the loops of the wire clamp snugged about the joint to maximum extension of the wire ends 14 through the yoke 22, and the finger 28 is then rocked to the full line position of Figures 1 and 3 to secure the wire ends 14 in a firmly clamped engagement between the cam and block margins. The nose extension 19 carried by the handle 16 being engaged with the wire section 12 and the wire ends 14 being clamped to the handle 15 at the other side of the axis 17 with the handles separated, it is manifest that the rapprochement of said handles through a natural, single-hand manipulation thereof operates to tension the wire half lengths 13 and to tighten the loops therefrom constituted about the joint as the wires are drawn under the wire section 12 immobilized by the nose extension 19'. Upon completion of the tensioning operation the handles 15 and 16, and the jaws 18 and 19, are substantially closed together, and the entire tool, in such condition, is then swung about the wire section 12 as a fulcrum to wrap the tensioned wires about said section and into such hooked relation therewith as inhibits release of tension in the tightened loops of the clamp, whereafter the finger 28 is actuated to release the wire ends 14, the tool is freed from the section v12, the cutters 20 are utilized to clip .away excess wire, and the hooks about the section 12 are smoothed and closed over said section in any feasible manner, as by using the jaw ends of the tool as a hammer, and application of the tensioned clamp is complete.

Since changes, variations, and modifications in the .particular form, construction, and arrangement of the elements shown and described may be had without departing from the spirit of my invention, I wish to be understood as being limited solely by the scope of the appended claims, rather than by any details of the illustrative showing and foregoing description.

I claim as my invention:

In a tool of conventional pliers type having cornplementary handle and jaw member units pivotally interconnected in crossing relation intermediate their ends for coaction in a manner to close the jaw members together as the handle members are closed together, means for the tension mounting of wire loop clamps on a tube, said means comprising an integral extension of the free end of one of said jaw members projecting longitudinally therefrom beyond and wholly at one side of the free end of the other jaw member, said extension having a transverse notch at its free end, a yoke extending laterally from the handle member associated with the said other jaw member at the side of the pivotal axis opposite from said jaws, an eccentric cam mounted in the outer end of said yoke for rotation about an axis parallel to said pivotal axis of the crossed units, a segment formed with a serrated convex margin and paralleling the adjacent handle member and pin mounted through said yoke with said convex margin facing said cam and a lever on said cam manipulable to actuate the latter into and out of clamping engagement with wire loop clamp elements inserted between the cam and segment.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 518,283 Snyder Apr. 17, 1894 699,349 Sargent May 6, 1902 702,351 Abbott June 10, 1902 1,378,693 Lenholt May 17, 1921 1,553,110 Rich Sept. 8, 1925 2,009,897 Miller July 30, 1935 

